1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to adjustable wrenches, and more specifically to flat adjustable wrenches having a movable jaw that slides to and from an opposing jaw and a rotatable adjustment sleeve mechanism for adjusting the opening between the jaws.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Adjustable flat wrenches of the type having a fixed jaw formed with a handle and a movable jaw adapted to slide toward the fixed jaw are well known. In this type of wrench, the movable jaw is positioned, and retained in position, by an adjustment sleeve having external threads thereon which mesh with teeth or serrations formed on a portion of the sliding jaw. The adjustment sleeve is mounted within a window formed in the body of the wrench to be accessible from both sides of the wrench and operated by a user's thumb. The adjustment sleeve is retained in position by, and rotates about, a pin passing through the axis thereof. The pin is affixed into the body of the wrench, generally at each end thereof, to support the adjustment sleeve.
Occasionally, it is necessary to remove the adjustment sleeve in order to replace it with a new one, or to repair or replace the movable jaw. For this reason, some pins are formed like a shouldered screw, one end being threaded in order to be screwed into the wrench body, and the other end having a slot in the head thereof to receive a screwdriver. Frequently during use, the threaded pin works itself loose and falls out. Therefore, a secondary staking operation is necessary to deform either the pin or the metal surrounding the pin to retain the pin in place. Other devices have a pin which is press-fitted into the wrench body to retain the adjustment sleeve in position. Removal of a press-fit pin is essentially impossible unless a through hole is provided in the wrench body to receive a punch so that the pin may be punched out of the wrench body from the reverse direction. This through hole necessarily weakens the structural integrity of the body of the wrench.